Job Description

In January 2017 we won an award at the National Apprenticeship Awards ceremony held in London. Now we are building on our past success and introducing more Apprenticeship opportunities across the firm.

Let me introduce our Administration & Secretarial Services team

We're a really big law firm with offices across the country (and in the United States, but more about that later). In the UK our Administration & Secretarial Services team are also based across the country and between them they support our 1300 staff. They ensure our legal documents are produced to the highest standards and provide key day to day administrative assistance to our lawyers.

So what are we looking for?

People are at the very heart of what we do and to succeed we need the most talented and motivated teams in place. Our approach is really quite simple and underpinned by our values. We work hard but we also want our people to enjoy long and successful careers with us. That means making sure that everybody has the opportunity to develop and grow as well as being rewarded for their successes. We also feel it is very important to develop our people from within and have decided to recruit an apprentice into our Agriculture, Farms & Estates team in Newcastle, so they can learn from the grass-roots upwards and carve out an exciting and interesting career with us.

What will the Apprentice do?

Our apprenticeship will offer the opportunity to gain a formal Level 2 Legal Administration qualification as well as paid on-the-job training. You will learn the key aspects of the role, such as filing (electronic & manual), proofreading, communication and creating business documents. Your progress will be monitored and assessed regularly, by a variety of methods including an e-portfolio, work-place exams, assignments and supervisory testimonials.

What makes it so great to work here?

I mentioned we're award winning - in fact we've received recognition for our apprenticeship programme in the form of two awards recently reassuring you that the quality of support you'll receive here is second to none.

Secondly, we've worked hard and continue to work hard, to create an open culture that sets us apart from other firms. Our culture gives us much more of a human feel, emphasising that we're more than just suits! We like and make time for each other enabling us to establish professional relationships that become lasting friendships.

There are lots of extra-curricular activities to get involved in too; perhaps you're into charity fund raising, we love to see people keen to get involved with our corporate social responsibility strategy, so much so we'll even give you two days per year on us to get involved.

And that's not all, alongside a competitive salary you'll receive a flexible benefits package so you can pick and choose between the benefits that matter most to you.

Most of all it's our people that make it a great place to work.

I promised you more about our Firm.

Womble Bond Dickinson is a full-service transatlantic law firm, created on 1 November 2017 through the combination of UK firm Bond Dickinson and US firm Womble Carlyle.

A Top 100 law firm globally and Top 20 law firm in the UK, Womble Bond Dickinson has more than 420 partners and 1,000 lawyers based across 16 US cities and eight UK cities including a significant presence in London. The firm's reach also extends to Europe where it has strategic partnerships with other law firms in Germany and France.

In the UK, Womble Bond Dickinson advises in excess of 40 FTSE 350 companies, many of the largest businesses in the country, government organisations and wealthy individuals. With a focus on eleven key sectors (Energy & Natural Resources; Financial Institutions; Healthcare; Insurance, Manufacturing; Real Estate; Retail and Consumer; Transport, Logistics & Infrastructure; Pharmaceuticals, Biotechnology & Life Sciences; Technology and Private Wealth) the firm’s experience allows it to build strong relationships and deliver an excellent service to clients.

What experience and qualifications are we looking for?

We're looking for positive and enthusiastic individuals who have a genuine desire to pursue a career in legal administration. We are looking for 5 GCSE grades A to C or equivalent, specifically Maths and English.

So you're interested but still have some questions?

This all sounds great but it's a big decision and you still have reservations, how can you be sure this is right for you? You can contact me to talk it through or you can read more about our other apprenticeships on our website. My name is Lisa Gater and my telephone number is 0117 9896772.

You've made up your mind and want to apply.

If you're already sold what are you waiting for. You can formally apply via the apply now button below to upload your CV, please don't forget to include a covering letter explaining why you are interested in the role.

About Womble Bond Dickinson

Profile

Womble Bond Dickinson is a progressive, forward thinking firm, with transatlantic capacity and understanding of our local markets. Womble Bond Dickinson has more than 420 partners and 1,000 lawyers across 8 offices in the UK and 15 offices in the US. The combination puts Womble Bond Dickinson in the UK’s top 20 and in the top 80 in the US listings.

It matters to us that we have the right people working alongside us but, actually, there isn’t a typical Womble Bond Dickinson person. Our people come from diverse backgrounds and bring a range of experience – and that’s important to us.

School leaver opportunities

Womble Bond Dickinson has a number of opportunities across each of our locations for developing your skills and gaining work experience as part of our early careers programme.

Our early careers programme includes insight days and structured work experience weeks for students age 16 and above, who are interested in working in a legal environment including support roles.

Our insight days will give you an insight into the work of a commercial law firm with an introduction to a career in law, skills workshops and an opportunity to meet people from around the business.

Our work experience weeks start with an insight day followed by four days within the business, networking with professionals and gaining valuable work experience in both legal and support roles.

Apprenticeships

In September 2014 we launched the first of our apprenticeship programmes. We recognised the importance of creating alternative routes into the profession for those who wanted to get their first foot on the career ladder sooner rather than later. We also wanted to develop our own home grown talent to ensure a continued pipeline of paralegals, future lawyers and support functions.

Our well established Paralegal Apprenticeship runs over two years. You'll work within our paralegal team, giving you access to a wide range of clients and types of work. Our legal apprenticeship offers school leavers and those who choose not to go to University the opportunity to gain formal legal qualifications and a role in the profession through paid, on-the-job training as an apprentice paralegal.

Our new Solicitor apprenticeship is a direct route to becoming a qualified solicitor without the requirement to go to university. Over the six years, you'll develop an amazing set of skills and a wealth of valuable experience whilst earning a good salary. You will spend time across a variety of legal and support teams covering a wide range of work and training.

It's no secret that we're an ambitious firm. All of our people contribute to our success, not just our lawyers. They rely hugely on the support they receive from our equally talented business professionals. We are recruiting and training apprentices in a variety of our support teams with our dedicated secretaries, IT experts, HR Professionals, skilled recruiters and facilities managers.

As a growing firm, we have plans to create more of these roles!

Salary & benefits

Competitive salaries with a wide range of flexible benefits.

Requirements

We recognise that each of our teams have different needs and therefore the requirements for each role will vary. We will ask for a CV and cover letter with later stages being a video/face to face interview and an opportunity to meet the team.